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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (January 3, 2001 - The National/PINA Nius Online)---A special police squad from Port Moresby has smashed one of the country's most notorious criminal gangs in a well-coordinated raid in Popondetta.

The police action is expected to bring down the incidence of murder and other serious crime in the Northern province headquarters sharply.

The armed gang of criminals led by Michael Isorua Sarufa, whose criminal activities extended to Lae and Alotau, was shot and wounded during the undercover police assault on his operational headquarters, located on a hilltop on the outskirts of Popondetta.

The gang has been responsible for a series of murders, gun battles with police, break and enter, rape and armed robberies over the past six months.

Several gang members were captured along with high-powered guns, a powerful police radio, and police and military camouflage uniforms.

The agreement was signed by the government’s Acting Chief Procurement Officer Pat Tervola last Thursday before it was routed for other required signatures.

Everything then was finalized last Friday afternoon, just 72 hours before the December 31 deadline and Tesoro’s departure from the local market.

Tesoro surprised the government last November with a sudden announcement that it would pull out of American Samoa completely. This prompted the government to approach BP and Mobil Oil about running the Gataivai Tank Farm.

Kava said on Friday that the government had received firm confirmation that BP would take over as the interim terminal operator at the start of the New Year, January 1. He also confirmed that the U.S...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (December 29, 2000)---Australia and New Zealand are being called on to host Fiji’s ethnic Indian refugees on a temporary basis.

The main Hindu religious organization in New Zealand, the Sanatan Dharam, says it is helping coordinate relief efforts for Indo-Fijians, but the situation is getting worse.

Spokesman Babu Gyan Singh says there are many destitute and homeless Indo-Fijians who could be looked after in Australia and New Zealand until democracy is restored in Fiji.

"In the area which I'm supposed to be looking after, which is Rakiraki, Tavua, and Ba, there are about nine thousand people who are homeless at this stage," Sing said.

"We would love see that people who are in real need of shelter, have a place to live.

"If those people are looked into straight away, if they have no place to live and we can temporarily -- if Australia and New Zealand -- can temporarily accommodate them until such time as these issues are resolved...

SUVA, Fiji Islands (December 29, 2000)---Australia and New Zealand are being called on to host Fiji’s ethnic Indian refugees on a temporary basis.

The main Hindu religious organization in New Zealand, the Sanatan Dharam, says it is helping coordinate relief efforts for Indo-Fijians, but the situation is getting worse.

Spokesman Babu Gyan Singh says there are many destitute and homeless Indo-Fijians who could be looked after in Australia and New Zealand until democracy is restored in Fiji.

"In the area which I'm supposed to be looking after, which is Rakiraki, Tavua, and Ba, there are about nine thousand people who are homeless at this stage," Sing said.

"We would love see that people who are in real need of shelter, have a place to live.

"If those people are looked into straight away, if they have no place to live and we can temporarily -- if Australia and New Zealand -- can temporarily accommodate them until such time as these issues are resolved...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (January 3, 2000 - Post-Courier/PINA Nius Online)---Papua New Guinea police on border operations said they were horrified recently at the sight of a West Papuan OPM rebel being tortured by Indonesian soldiers.

A member of Lae’s Mobile Squad 13 stationed at the border said the OPM (Free Papua Movement) rebel was forced to swallow cups of hot chili soup, and was repeatedly slashed with a knife.

He said they had never seen anything like that before and were so horrified that they quickly finished eating the noodle soup offered by their Indonesian counterparts (The Brimok) and left.

"It was torture at its worst. It’s something we have never seen before," he said.

Papua New Guinea and Indonesian forces on the Papua New Guinea-Indonesia border talk to each other daily. The Papua New Guineans are occasionally invited by their counterparts to share a few drinks or food.

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (January 2, 2001 - PIDP/CPIS)--Christa Lin, one of the two attorneys representing Daewoosa Samoa’s Vietnamese workers was taken into police custody New Year’s Eve for allegedly trespassing at the company’s Tafuna compound.

However, she was not jailed but was released instead "in the spirit of the holiday," according to Lin’s law partner, Virginia Sudbury.

"The police first booked Christa and wanted to incarcerate her without bail," said Sudbury on Monday.

Sudbury said the case, however, will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office to be reviewed for possible prosecution.

Daewoosa’s assistant production manager, Nu’uuli Ioane, said "police was called in because Christa was trespassing on company property without authorization from Daewoosa."

Whether or not Lin had made prior arrangements to see those of her clients still living in the Daewoosa compound’s dormitories is not immediately...

Chairman Tony Sgro's self-assessment, offered in a brief campaign speech, may have pleased many of the visitors bureau's mostly business members who re-elected him to the GVB board yesterday. After the election, the board of directors voted to hand Sgro a second term as board chairman.

Keeping politics out of the Guam Visitors Bureau board wasn't an easy task, Sgro acknowledged, because the board is made up of just four elected directors and are outnumbered by political appointees.

Sgro said he managed to stop not just partisan political influence, but also some businesses' agendas from influencing the visitors...

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (January 3, 2001 – Radio Australia)---Northern Marianas officials have seized $10,000 worth of the illegal drug "ice" from five Christmas cards sent to the island of Rota from the Philippines.

The seizure came little more than a week after five grams of the illegal drug were found in other Christmas cards from the Philippines.

Officials refused to divulge the names of the recipients of the second batch of cards, but reliable sources said they belong to the same Rota resident who was arrested in connection with the first seizure.

Customs director Joe Mafnas said the seizure was the result of hard work, and strict monitoring at the country's borders will continue.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.